\u201cI bribed Seamus Finnigan to spy on Harry during our first year, you know\u201d, Lyra smiled at Hermione as they finally had some rest and the babies were asleep.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo way!\u201d, Hermione gasped. \u201cDevious\u201d, she grinned.<\/p>\n
\u201cSlytherin\u201d, Lyra grinned back. \u201cI love boys, they are so decent and straightforward. Seamus had a taste for both gossip and expensive things, and he had no money. So, I approached him and offered to solve his luxury problem if he told me things about Harry \u2013 his muggle caretakers, his family, what he\u2019s like and so on. Seamus vetted me out; he basically checked what I wanted to know first, making sure I wasn\u2019t trying to find stuff that would hurt Harry. When he concluded that I was vetting out a prospective boyfriend, he was very helpful. Later, when he saw us holding hands and talking, he approached me in passing, whispered \u2018good girl\u2019 and smiled\u201d, she laughed. \u201cHe later told me he thought it was the most awesome, straightforward thing he ever saw a girl do \u2013 basically, check a guy out because I liked him, then when I figured out everything is as it should be, I went for him\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWoah\u201d, Hermione looked stunned. \u201cThey really do have a bro code. A girl would usually back-stab another girl in a blink of an eye\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI considered spying on you, too, but I didn\u2019t dare\u201d, Lyra grinned. \u201cThere were plenty of girls who hated you and would gossip, but if I approached them, they would instantly blackmail me and threaten to tell you that I asked, so I didn\u2019t want to touch that nest of vipers with a long pole\u201d, she snickered. \u201cInstead, I listened to the second or third hand gossip in our common room; the Patil sisters were the source, and somebody always heard something\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did they say?\u201d, Hermione couldn\u2019t resist.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey hated you for just reading books, not caring about dresses or makeup, not wanting to gossip \u2018because you think you\u2019re better than they\u2019, and trying to figure out whether you have any romantic interests or you\u2019re only about grades\u201d, Lyra remembered. \u201cHonestly, hearing them made me want to be your friend even harder, because I was also into old books and I imagined what it would be like to talk to you, compare what we\u2019ve read, get ideas about things I didn\u2019t already hear of, or recommend books I\u2019ve read or saw. I also dreamed of teaching you my cosmetics routine, because I knew you think it\u2019s a terrible waste of time, but I learned it\u2019s important to look good\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a waste of time, now that it means talking to you for hours, and you\u2019re a huge girl-shaped library\u201d, Hermione giggled. \u201cBut if I imagine just sitting there with that giggly bunch for hours dressing up, my brain seizes\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know. I tried to filter them out as much as possible, but if you antagonise them too hard, it gets worse. I played the role of a haughty princess who is above those things but I always tried to look good so they had nothing to talk about, and also I may have hinted that those caught gossiping me will be buried in the forbidden forest in a dark hour of the night\u201d, she made a convincing impression of a villain.<\/p>\n
Hermione snickered. \u201cI wish I tried that. I just hexed a few of them and after that they avoided me because I was very good at magic, and I also had a hot temper\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was yearning and longing, basically. I wanted to be together with Harry, and I wanted to be your friend so much. I knew there\u2019s a smart girl with a huge overlap in interests with me that I wanted to talk to, and yet all that ideology taught me that you\u2019re a danger to our community and I didn\u2019t know enough to disprove it and apologize to you for insults and stupid stuff. I felt as if I\u2019m causing my own problems but I didn\u2019t know how to do anything constructive about it\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of us had a complicated mess to deal with\u201d, Hermione acknowledged. \u201cEven worse than what you have to deal with when you\u2019re doing my hair\u201d, she smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout that\u2026\u201d She closed her eyes, and Hermione\u2019s hair glowed with magic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere we go. Washed, conditioned, dried and braided\u201d, Lyra smiled. \u201cSorry for not doing it by hand. It\u2019s more fun but I\u2019m afraid the babies aren\u2019t going to give us enough time\u201d, she listened as a baby was fussing in the nursery. \u201cYup, that was bound to happen\u201d, she nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love you doing my hair\u201d, Hermione hugged her. \u201cOw. Let\u2019s go feed them, my breasts are so full of milk they hurt already\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSame\u201d, Lyra nodded, taking her sister\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI bribed Seamus Finnigan to spy on Harry during our first year, you know\u201d, Lyra smiled at Hermione as they finally had some rest and the babies were asleep. \u201cNo way!\u201d, Hermione gasped. \u201cDevious\u201d, she grinned. \u201cSlytherin\u201d, Lyra grinned back. … Continue reading